I hoped this one would take less time but it seems getting back in to the writing grove was a bit more complicated after pausing for so long; I'm hoping it's not so off to be noticeable but hey, gotta start somewhere XD. I gave some details on the important fights, just brushed on the secondary ones and made a passing comment on the unimportant ones because who really cares about those :P Next chapter is already cooking m'dudes and duddettes.

-Ace-

Absence is to love what wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great.
-Roger de Rabutin-

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.

-Albert Schweitzer-


Previously:

"Being alone is never fun Luce" She gasped and grabbed her chest; her brain was going 1000 miles per hour and suddenly his voice made its way inside her head ' It's always more fun when we are together, Luce'

She closed her eyes and tried to hold on to the sound of his voice while she kept pressing her chest until it came down on her like a bucket of cold water. The sound she heard was like a bell, and with every cling something popped into her head… her falling figure from the tower, him clinging to the rails on the magic games, his tears, his smile, his kisses…

"Natsu…" Lucy fell on her knees "Natsu…" She didn't want to stop saying his name; the fear of forgetting again was too big. "Hold on to it, little one, don't let him go…"

The blond hugged her middle and took a deep breath, this had happened before… and every time she forgot they came to her to remind her "I need to get out of here… h-he… I need to go!"

"Then wake up Lucy…"


After lunch the day went by like a blur and too quickly for his taste; Natsu felt like his time was running out and realized his choices at this point were slim to none. Desperation was creeping at every corner of his being and the strain of keeping his cold façade was taking a toll on him.

It became clear that his soul had decided to root itself back in place and was not planning to leave and he was sure the arrival of his friends and having his blond partner so close to him had everything to do with it and it scared him deeply.

His mind kept reeling back to the same thought… how to save Lucy and separate her from their bond; he had never considered himself as smart and his friends had made sure through the years to remind him that thinking was best left for others but this time he needed to think, he needed to figure out a way out of this for all of them.

He chewed the inside of his cheek while other thoughts circled his brain and he was sure this had been the time of his life where his brain had been the most active and he wasn't sure he liked it; he much rather be the easy going, carefree, reckless mess he was used to being and not this worried man with a permanent scowl.

The pinkette's mind went back to the games for a place next to him and he scrunched his nose; of course he didn't want Erza to lose, he had no intention of pairing up with any of the girls from the dark guilds but he was also concerned about Erza winning because there was no way in hell he was going to marry her either, even if it was just to trick people and gain some time.

He sat on his chair boringly, barely watching as the fights took place; he hadn't paid much attention the first time so when the morning fights ended and everyone came back from lunch they had to explain to him again that there would be six more pairs fighting during the day, three during the afternoon and three during the evening and he groaned and complained as much as he could because if he was going to be miserable he would make sure both his grandmothers suffered with him.

"Stop pouting like a child"

"As soon as you stop being a pain in my butt"

"This childish attitude is it's beneath you"

He rolled his eyes and huffed, pouting even more "You're beneath me…"

"That doesn't even make sense" Aporia's annoyed expression was evident while Nephele just giggled "Ria… come on cut him some slack, you know he is not too happy with this"

"I don't remember asking for your opinion" The cloud nymph bit her lip and looked away rapidly trying to avoid Natsu's gaze while he simply shook his head and whispered "She shouldn't talk to you like that, stop being such a doormat"

She gave him an unforgiving look before regaining her composure and raising her face "You know nothing about Ria… I owe her everything"

Natsu straightened his back and opened his mouth to speak but immediately closed it and went back to his slouched position.

He wanted to, no, he needed to tell her about what her dear friend had done but had been told it was still not the time to do so.

He had no love for either of them but he felt bad knowing that Nephele's loyalty towards Aporia had been built on nothing but lies and he knew that there was no way she knew why her son had died or who had been behind her deepest pain.

He paid little to no attention to the first two combats, someone won, someone lost and that's all he needed to know; sure the winners were somewhat strong but compared to his friends? No, they wouldn't last.

For the third combat he straightened up again while he observed Erza walking into the grid and he smiled to himself; her opponent was nowhere near as powerful and it became evident that even the poor girl was aware of it as she kept switching from foot to foot looking nervously at her guild leader.

Erza didn't even have to try; she launched and swept her opponents feet, making her fall on the floor before slamming her sword next to her face, cutting a piece of her hair.

"Yield…" her eyes were fearless and the aura emanating from her was dangerous and the girl's eyes widened before she shook her head. She whispered as low as she could but the sound was clear as day for the Slayers "I can't…"

Titania gave her an understanding look and nodded "Then do your best". Natsu felt a little bad knowing there were people there that may have grown into those dark guilds and had no real wish to be there, just like the kids he had rescued.

The woman did try although it was painfully evident to the Fairies that their friend was being too lenient as the fight dragged on for more than a couple of minutes. In the end it didn't matter, the girl lost but was able to go back to her guild with her head held high not before Erza pulled her in and told her no one was forcing her to stay; the girl gave her the slightest nod and walked away.

The redhead knew that her guild wouldn't be happy but whatever punishment she was supposed to get would lessen.

"Can I go now?" Natsu was almost laying on his chair at this point and Aporia huffed and waved her hand "Be back in an hour"

He grunted and stood up looking back at his friends as he started walking away causing him to bump into someone.

"Shit!" he turned around to face an ashy blond rubbing her back side "Jeez you're solid like a wall!" he snorted and out of habit offered his hand to assist her but noticed she didn't let go after he got her up.

"Guess I should pay attention when I am making an escape, uhm?" she tilted her head and smiled and the gesture was too familiar and caused him some discomfort. He was about to walk away when the woman stopped him.

"Maybe you shouldn't try to make an escape" He had no wish to interact with any of the dark guilds as it would only complicate things, but it seemed that no matter how much he ordered his feet to move, they had decided to stay rooted.

"My Lord" she bowed "I need to steal a minute of your time" he was about to deny but something in the way she looked at him made it hard to refuse "I… guess…"

Gajeel observed from the other side of the yard and looked at Lily before he nodded and flew away, keeping his distance but attempting to follow closely.

She walked with him all the way to the garden which he wasn't too happy about; that place was meant for his family and she was no such thing.

"Well suspense is killing me here, what do you want?"

She turned her face slightly with her body still facing away and giggled "Just to talk, although I would preferred if you enjoyed my company a bit" suddenly she turned on one foot and placed her hands behind her back and smiled and he felt something odd in his chest.

He cleared his throat "Ok, well if that's all"

"I also wanted to ask…"

"About?"

"The blond woman you've kept huddled in one of the rooms" His eyes widened; not even his grandmother had brought the topic up for discussion and as far as he knew she wasn't even aware of her presence thanks to all the precautions and seals they had in place.

He felt his anger flicker before the girl put her hands up in surrender. "Woah relax, it's not like I'm gonna tell; I promise" she winked at him and giggled.

For some bizarre reason her words made his internal turmoil die down "What's it to you then? She is no one special" the words stung deep and felt like drowning in poison.

"I don't think that's true…" she closed the distance between them and laid her hand on his chest and he pushed the urge to burn the offending extremity right there "I don't mind you know?" he scrunched his nose and arched his eyebrow "What?"

"If your heart belongs to someone else"

"Lady, you are missing some screws in that head of yours" she smiled again and it was such a familiar smile he felt a bit disarmed by it "Nadia… although if you rather call me something else I wouldn't mind at all"

He blushed but in an odd way, there was something seriously wrong with this and he couldn't pinpoint it "Er… it's… I'm gonna get some grub so…" she nodded and shrugged "I guess I'll see you around"

His head was spinning a bit and he nodded before turning away and returning to the castle, taking his seat on the table where his friends were already getting a snack.

The Iron dragon slayer turned to him "What was that about Salamander?" and he sighed and shook his head "Man, I wish I knew…"

When the evening fights were about to start Erza made a point of sitting on Natsu's armrest and resting her elbow on his shoulder before he rolled his eyes at her.

"The fuck are you doing?" he whispered; she smiled and talked through her teeth "Just put your arm around my waist" he cringed and scrunched his nose "Er… no…"

She pinched his ribs while keeping her smile "Since that girl took you away for a private chat the guilds think they have some sort of advantage, so we need to switch their attention… hand… waist… now'' he gulped and did as he was told.

Natsu turned to look at his friends who were now biting hard trying not to burst in laughter, all but Jellal of course who just stared at them for a bit before turning away.

"Ms. Scarlett there are plenty of seats available on the other side of the yard" She looked at Aporia with a crooked smile "I'm pretty comfy here, but thanks for the offer"

The first two fights ended without surprises; in the first combat Tais pulled her same tactic and immobilized her opponent before pulling a dagger out of nowhere and stabbing her opponents middle section viciously, causing both Natsu and Erza to share a concerned look. The second one was won by a woman named Galea who wasn't really strong; if Natsu had to describe her he would say she was, in lack of better words… nothing.

She had no specific scent which was almost impossible, her voice was so soft that even he had trouble listening and it almost seemed as if she wasn't breathing during the fight.

Her steps were so soft that even the soil remained unmoving when she stepped on it and if that wasn't bad enough her magical ability consisted in blending with her surroundings making her invisible.

He took a moment to think about the danger… he couldn't smell, hear, or see her and that was something he didn't like one bit and he could tell the rest of the slayers shared that concern when she was declared the winner of the second combat.

Natsu stretched a bit and cranked his neck, happy that the next one would be the last fight but that all changed in a second.

He saw Nadia stepping in the grid with a smile on her face, her brown eyes landing on him causing him to tilt his head 'Were her eyes always that shade or brown?' he shook his head, removed his now numbed arm from Erza's waist and rested his elbows on his knees to watch the fight unfold.

Erza noticed the switch right away and looked at the Slayers who were staring at Natsu with concern written on their faces.

The Demon King snapped out of his trance as soon as the fight started with Nadia moving fast enough to reach out to her opponent. One single touch allowed her to use her persuasion skill.

"Stop…" The woman grunted trying to move but her feet were frozen in place "You can't move your legs, something is wrong with them and your feet feel glued to the ground"

The woman grunted and tried to push herself forward to no avail "This cube we're in is getting filled by water, can't you see? It's all the way to your ankles already"

Nadia's opponent move her right arm back and stretched her left as if forming and arch but before she could make her shot the blond woman spoke again "We're surrounded by runes that annul magic, you're getting weaker by the second"

The woman looked around seeing something invisible to everyone else "Oh no… more water is coming out from that corner over there! and that one too! Hurry! the water is reaching your knees already!"

The woman tried to move her legs again, she even grabbed one of her feet and attempted to pull it from the ground; her breathing became erratic and her eyes kept looking everywhere trying to find a way out.

"Nadia stop… please stop"

"Do you surrender?" the woman bit her lip and shook her head "You really should hurry… the water is reaching your chest now"

The panicked look on her face made Natsu cringe "Ele… stop the fight it's clear who the winner is"

"She will do no such thing"

"She's gonna die Ria"

"So be it… they all entered this combat knowing that was a possibility" Natsu clicked his tongue and turned in time to see the woman punching her own leg to force it to move all to the point where he heard the cracking of her bone.

"The water is now covering your eyes… you can't breath" The woman made a weird motion as if trying to swim up but failing every time and in less than a minute she was clutching her neck and chest.

Natsu saw the woman growing paler, her lips slowly turning blue and he turned to his grandmother with disdain "You're really not doing shit about it?" she ignored him and in that second he all but snarled before jumping out of his seat "NADIA!" she turned to him and smiled and his anger melted away leaving him confused "That's enough…"

"My Lord! She hasn't surrendered"

"Well I say she surrenders and unless someone here is willing to fight me on this…" he looked around and shrugged "See I don't see anyone coming forward" she smiled "Ok… so then I win?" her excited face made his cheeks redden and he knew something odd was happening; he still cleared his throat "Yeah, yeah"

She fisted her hand and pushed it up before turning around "The water is gone, you can breathe and move". The woman gasped and fell on the ground in a coughing fit before being removed from the grid.

With the defenses down the woman started walking towards them and before she could lay her eyes on Erza, he blocked her sight "You know… you could have just ordered her to surrender"

"I could have… but where's the fun in that, uhm?" He felt a shock on his spine, his instincts telling him the woman was dangerous but soon she went back to the smiles and giggles and walked away leaving him upset and confused.

The pinkette took his leave and went back to the garden where the kids were already running around; their eyes immediately lighting up when they saw him getting closer.

"Hey, have any of you seen Mal today?" the kids shook their heads and shrugged, making him a bit concerned "Hm… he's never away for this long…"

"Maybe he got tired of your bossy attitude Natsu" He snorted and flipped Sting off before a tiny voice interrupted. "Papa what's that?" Natsu immediately turned to see Adae staring and pointing at his hand and he recoiled quickly before stuffing it in his pocket.

"Nothing" she puffed her cheeks and scrunched her nose before she too lifted her hand closing her fingers and leaving her middle finger out "I wanna know what this is!"

Natsu brushed his face while Sting burst out laughing looking at her tiny angry face flipping Natsu off "Oh yes that is exactly how you use it kid!"

"NO IT'S NOT! ADAE! PUT YOUR DAMN HAND DOWN!" she gave him a daring look and narrowed her eyes before Miko came running "Hey what's going on?"

She turned around and shoved her hand on his face, which still held her tiny middle finger up. Miko widened his eyes "HEY WHAT DID I DO?!" Sting was now on the floor trying not to cry when the rest of Fairy tail and the slayers got there only to see the extremely adorable and tiny blue haired girl still proudly flipping everyone off.

Natsu walked up to her, pulled her from her feet so she was backwards and narrowed his eyes "Stop…" She placed her left hand on her hip while still keeping her finger up on her right hand "No!"

"Adae!" she pouted "You're not asking nicely!" he took a deep breath and sighed "Stop, please?"

She smiled and giggled before grabbing his face and squeezing his cheeks "Ok" he shook his head and placed her back on the ground "Go before I regret it and throw you to the Dragons" she tilted her head and looked at the rest of the slayers before laughing "Sure papa!"

"Why was Adi doing that?!" He looked at Erza and shook his head but before he could reply Sting spoke up "Father of the year just showed her how to flip everyone off!"

"NATSU!" he held his hands up "I didn't do it on purpose!" Happy snickered and shook his head "Oh Natsu that's not something you should teach a kid!"

"I... it was an accident!" Erza stomp her foot of the ground "How do you accidently teach a child how to give everyone the finger?!"

He huffed and crossed his arms above his chest "Obviously I didn't expect for her to see me flipping Sting off!"

"If Lucy ever lays an egg I hope you remember not to teach your baby such nasty stuff" and just like that Happy's words made the atmosphere die down; Carla stomped his paw causing him to cry out "What was that about!?"

"Stupid Tomcat…" he looked up to see Natsu walking away slowly and he knew he had said something wrong. In Happy's head this was all temporary; his friend had always managed to come out victorious and he truly believed this wouldn't be different.

He saw his best friend walk away defeated; Natsu really thought there was no way out and it made him sad to think about it. The pinkette had defeated all odds at every turn and his confidence had always been a light at the end of the tunnel for everyone around him… he realized this time it was up to them.

Natsu eventually came back after a long walk and joined everyone at the table but he had no appetite so he just pushed his food around a couple of times making everyone concerned. Happy kept looking his way and sighing.

He couldn't blame the cat, if it had been up to him he would have those 33 kids Mira kept joking about and for a second he pictured what life with Lucy would have been if none of this had happened. The Dragon Slayer was sure she would have fixed up the place even more, maybe placed some flowers on the outside and added a couple curtains; he imagined her with a big belly moving around the kitchen while he sneaked behind her to hug her and rub her growing middle section lovingly and her blushing and smiling.

He pictured them fixing one of the rooms and preparing for the imminent arrival of the baby, him building a crib and possibly failing at it while Lucy kept pushing him to just buy one all before their huge fight about baby names and he couldn't help but feel pain inside because in his heart he already knew what the perfect names for his children with Lucy would be.

Gajeel kicked him underneath the table "Could you fucking stop that?" Natsu shrugged "Don't even know what you are talking about" he looked around and noticed then… Everyone seemed sad and uncomfortable but the slayers looked devastated and he knew that was his fault, so he did the only thing he could; he took a deep breath before grabbing some chicken from his plate and throwing it at Gajeel's face.

The offending piece of food landed with a wet sound on his cheek before sliding down his face and falling on the table "What… the fuck… do you think you are doing"

"Your fucking face is annoying me, I thought food would fix it but no… still annoying" and just like that Gajeel threw himself at Natsu and a brawl that soon involved the rest of his friends ensued effectively distracting everyone from the sad thoughts.

If the dark guilds weren't scared enough already, seeing the familiarity of the newcomers with the man who had decimated a couple of dark guilds and threatened to kill them a couple of times did the trick.

Hours later silence filled the air in the castle as it should be in the middle of the night; Natsu had made a habit out of walking every inch of it, usually ending up on the rooftop until morning. It had become boring and tiring, but he had to do something to not fall asleep; his friends tended to keep him company but it was common for them to fall asleep at some point, and now with them powering the grid it was too much to ask from them.

The nights since his nightmare had been uneventful, but it was getting harder to make his legs move as he ordered; his thoughts had often become foggy, but he had been able to fight it most of the time... suddenly he felt incredibly tired; h e blinked once… twice… and by the third time everything went dark.


Lucy scrunched her eyes and nose feeling the beginning of a headache; she could hear fighting in the background, different aggravated voices that would surely make her pain worse and for a moment she thought she had fallen asleep somewhere she knew well but she didn't quite remember where that was.

She could hear the argument in the background but couldn't force herself to sit up.

"We tried it your way, this is not working!"

"We need to keep trying! We can't push her!"

"Now, now you two need to stop" both father and son turned with angry glares "SHUT UP!" That did it, a growl emitted from his throat that pushed them both back a bit "ENOUGH!"

"Igneel we have limited time! His mind will break!" Zeref held his stare almost in a pleading way that the Dragon King was not used to seeing on his face.

"Do you think I don't know that?!" Igneel shook his head and rubbed his now human looking hands on his face "We can't pull her out ourselves and the time we can spend here becomes shorter and shorter as his energy fails him"

Phrixus stomped his foot "Do you want to kill her too?! She is everything your brother holds dear, if you break her…"

"Dad, look at this place! It's already fading away and if she is here when it happens…"

"What will happen if I'm here? Why is it fading? And what exactly is here?" they all but jumped at her voice and gave her sad knowing looks.

"It's ok little one, we understand this is too much for you now" She glared at the pinkette; his smile was familiar but she couldn't quite place him.

She looked down at her lap and reached out to try to get rid of the wrinkles of her skirt but stopped before touching the fabric and stared at her hand feeling something was missing… something dear to her… something she carried proudly.

She opened her mouth a bit and her lip started trembling; her breathing became ragged and tears formed in her eyes making her sight blurry and in the midst of it she could almost make up a shape on the back of her hand; Lucy bit her lip hard drawing a bit of blood and closed her eyes tightly before standing up on shaky legs and walking towards the pinkette.

"Too much for me?!" she fisted her hands and stomp her foot harshly "Nothing is too much for me! I am capable and strong and…"

"Hey, hey it's ok" Phrixus grabbed her shoulder trying to comfort her but she pushed him away "I've worked my ass off to be where I am today, I will not let some weirdos discuss what I can or can't take"

"If she can't handle this it will all be worthless, time is running out" Zeref whispered to them and she was now fuming; how dare they talk about her like she wasn't even there?

"I can handle anything you throw my way" The black wizard was tired of this useless loop and his patience was running thin "If you were capable of handling stuff you wouldn't be in this situation"

"Hey back off! She has been through a lot and…" The scenery kept falling apart while her anger accumulated and in a second she was covered with golden light while a few fire strands surfaced from her middle to cover her little by little in a protective way. Her hand started glowing while slowly her guild mark reapared " I am a Fairy Tail mage! You should stop treating me like I'm made of glass, Natsu!" She stopped and opened her eyes, noticing the men looking at her.

"Oh no…" she looked around with panic knowing now she had little to no time. Zeref grabbed her arms "If you are who you say you are then prove it!"

"How?" Tears formed in her eyes but she forced herself to not cry "You need to stop this place from crashing Lucy otherwise you'll be right where you started"


Natsu blinked a couple times, his eyes were dry and tired; he looked around trying to figure out what happened and was surprised to realize the sun was coming out already and he wondered where time had gone.

He did a quick mental check; he was on his bed wearing the clothes he had the previous day, even his shoes were still on but he did not remember how he got there in the first place.

The pinkette leveraged his weight on his elbow to straighten up a bit and frowned at the scene before him.

Laxus was nodding off sitting in one of the chairs across the room, Gajeel was asleep with his back laying on the door and his arms above his chest with Rogue sitting next to him rubbing his eyes, Sting was laying on the floor and snoring slightly and Wendy was straight up sleeping at the foot of his bed and kind of holding on to his ankle.

"Ok… this is… weird" he shifted slowly to avoid waking Wendy up; his feet had barely touched the ground when he heard Laxus' deep voice "Where the fuck do you think you are going?"

"Ehm… restroom?" The blond man stood up and walked to the restroom first looking around and rubbing his chin "Ok… the window is too small for you to leave anyways, so…" He gave him an annoyed expression signaling with his hand to proceed and Natsu just arched his eyebrow and mumbled "Weirdo…"

He was moving slowly this morning although he didn't know why; he hadn't spent five minutes inside when someone started pounding on the door "OI! What's taking you so long!?" He huffed but didn't reply "Either say something or I'm taking the door down!"

"For fuck's sake Metalhead!" He opened the door to exit the room about ready to pummel each and every one of them to the ground but he stopped when he noticed the angry glares he was getting.

"Ok what?!" He looked at each of their faces waiting for a response that didn't come and turned to Wendy because surely at least she would talk to him, but she wouldn't even meet his eyes. The tiny dragon slayer was still on his bed, legs and arms crossed and an angry pout on her face while looking at the floor.

"Ok… what did I…" He didn't finish asking before his bedroom's door slammed open revealing an obviously angry and scary looking Erza followed by an equally upset Levy and Juvia.

He sighed; it was barely morning and it was obvious he was in serious trouble "Ehm… have you guys seen Happy?"

Erza kept giving him the stink eye but at least this time she replied "He doesn't want to see you"

"What?!" That shocked him; no matter if they were angry with each other or fought over something, Happy was always by his side.

"We don't have time for this, just get ready for breakfast"

"Fucker don't deserve breakfast" He looked at Gajeel like he'd grown two heads "OK can someone PLEASE tell me what is up your butts today!?" Sting got up from the floor and pointed at him "Seriously Natsu? After what you did yesterday? I mean I could believe that from someone else but not from you"

"Juvia is very disappointed at Natsu-san's behavior"

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!" He brushed his face with both hands and sat on his bed before pulling both of Wendy's hands to force her to look at him.

"Wendy, come on! Look at me" She sighed and turned her face to meet his eyes "What did I do?"

She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes "You really don't know?" she shook his head "How do I know you're not lying?" He was about to yell something like 'When have I ever' but the words died in his throat… During the last few months he had lied to them so much that he couldn't blame them for questioning him now.

"I don't know… Wendy, please?" she sighed heavily but before she could reply Erza interrupted "We're mad about your little escapade yesterday" Natsu was getting increasingly worried about where this was going "Elaborate…" the redhead looked confused and finally sat down behind him and rested her face on his back "If you're lying to me I'll kill you…" he gulped "I am very aware"

"You left your room yesterday, we didn't really noticed"

"So? I walk around the castle every night. I don't see why…"

"You weren't exactly alone when we found you" That sent all types of alarms to his brain and at that point the slayers could feel panic rising in his chest causing Rogue to intervene "You really don't know what we are talking about, do you?" he shook his head.

"We couldn't find you… It felt weird… like you pushing us out the door" The explanation made no sense for the Dragon Slayer but he nodded either way "We assumed you didn't want us to find you or something…"

Sting walked closer rubbing his cheek "And then we got to the garden and you were there and this chick had her arms wrapped around your neck" That made him snap his head and widen his eyes "You didn't look uncomfortable so we thought…"

"You thought I had shut you out to go spend some time with a member of a dark guild?!" He pulled his hair slightly making it look like a mess.

"Man what did you want us to think? She was sucking your neck and when we got there you didn't even look at us and just walked back to your room" He couldn't believe what he was hearing; Natsu stood up and walked to the bathroom to inspect himself and as soon as he looked into the mirror he saw the a small patch of red and purple on his neck.

He slammed the door closed and removed everything he had on him, inspecting every bit of skin he could find and was relieved to see no other marks or bruises on him.

He opened the door still mumbling to himself "Shit, shit, shit… Ok I'm going mad…" He paced back and forth for a bit before Erza stopped him "You really do need to get ready" he nodded and walked to his closet to get some clean clothes before stopping.

"Who was it? The woman?"

"Nadia…" He knew there was something seriously wrong with that woman but couldn't decipher what it was just yet.

Breakfast went by quickly with an awkward feeling around from everyone; he didn't know what made him feel worse… if not remembering doing something like that or the fact that whatever he had done was behind Lucy's back.

He looked up at everyone on the table without concern about his grandmothers being there "Hey… has anyone seen Mal? I haven't seen him since… what, yesterday?" they shook their heads; he was starting to get really concerned about the well being of his friend.

As soon as they stepped out into the sun for the new set of battles, Nadia was there to greet him with a big smile. Her hair was up in half a ponytail and wore a pair of knee length boots, a pleated celeste skirt and a tank top "G'Morning!" Before he could even reply his friends stood in between them which caused her smile to fall a bit "I was just wondering if I could…"

"You can't…" Erza's commanding voice was harsh and unforgiving "But I just wanted to…"

"No…"

"But I haven't even…!" Gajeel stuck his head from behind Erza "Hey do you not speak English or what? Get lost!" she huffed, balled her fists and walked away rapidly while stomping her feet on the ground.


Mal stepped into the underworld filled with fear; he felt his heartbeat resonating in his ears and it stunted him a little; this was what his father wanted and he would do it no matter what.

The fire of the underworld felt different… dead, cold, emotionless and yet it was still burning. He cursed himself for thinking it was dumb to come to a place surrounded by his element because even when everything was dead it still felt alive, like millions of eyes looking at every step he took… but when he turned there was nothing there.

He walked slowly trying to not make a sound, trying to lose himself in every shadow, every rock, every corner, and thinking that at any second someone would come and pull his soul out of his body, and maybe it was stupid but what else could happen in the underworld?

It seemed like hours had passed since he had gotten there and it almost felt like he was walking in circles and suddenly there was a pulse… a dark, angry, devastating pulse that stopped everything. He almost heard the shriek of pain coming from the pool of souls beneath his feet and he wondered if this had happened at the hand of his father… he remembered his words, his assurance that Hades would be too distracted to notice and he found himself walking again, into the void that could very well suck him in and destroy him.

The scenery changed soon after the pulse and even when he could still fill it in his bones it now seemed dull and numbed. He saw the bone throne that was meant for the God of the realm, his table and chess board with scattered pieces and a bone structure containing a fire pit that held the darkest fire he had ever seen before.

His father was right… This was like no other fire. He usually found himself attracted by it… its warmth and misticity, the way it danced in the night and how it was both a keeper or life and a destroyer of lands depending on who its user was, but this fire… this one was screaming at him in silence… calling out to him desperately to pull it from it's cage or end its misery.

Chrysomallus found himself staring from the distance deciding if he should go back home and tell his master this fire was as common as they came or go through with his mission, and he cursed himself for that too.

He took a deep breath and walked closer and it seemed with every step he took the fire burned in anticipation.

"It's just fire… it's… just fire" He was standing before it and he felt like something was staring back but nothing happened. Mal sighed and laughed at himself; he brushed his face with his right hand and as soon as he did the fire reached out and pulled his wrist in a painful way and he couldn't get away from it.

A thousand foreign memories filled his head and left him kneeling and crying before it; pleading for it to stop because he realized this was not fire at all…

"Nizza…" It was like a shortcut, burning electricity throughout his body and he couldn't stop it.

He saw it all through her eyes both alive and dying just like if he inhabited her body, and he could feel every inch of pain and fear she had felt… not only for herself but for her family. Her eyes were always stuck to her children and husband while her body shattered and left nothing behind but the cracking sound of breaking bones and the warmth of her blood staining the floors of her humble house and he cried, he cried because he could feel her desperation.

He had felt the pain she had gone through knowing she was dead and incapable of protecting the people she loved the most, because her eyes were still on like a recording lacrima… never stopping, no one to yell cut... her soul was still there until it could be collected by the Gods.

She had been confused and scared… Every attempt she and her husband had made to use their magic had been fruitless, leaving them moving their hands in exaggerated ways trying to conjure something… anything to save their children but nothing had happened.

Her eyes were open and she couldn't look away… not when the love of her life was ripped apart bathing their children with blood… not when her youngest son had decided to act as a shield for his brother, not when her eldest son had cried until he had nothing else inside while his brother bled to dead… not when he had cuddled with his brother whispering sweet nothings hoping he would wake up nor when he had carried his tiny body with him.

Even after that, her eyes were alive and for the first time Mal asked himself why had her soul remained there for so long… until he saw her.

Aporia had knelt next to her daughter and cradled her face before clicking her tongue and sighing. She had kept talking to her like it was nothing, as if she knew her dead daughter could still hear her.

"This is your own doing… no, no don't give me that look you know I'm right…"

Aporia had pulled a long knife and stabbed her in the center of her chest before the sound of cracking bones was heard "Stupid dragon can't even follow a simple instruction… such a waste"

The sorceress sighed "If you had listened to me, we wouldn't be in this position in the first place… such a disappointment" .

Her face was stained with her daughter's clotted blood from when she brushed her hair out of her face; it hadn't splattered only because it had remained steady for such a long time… dead and cold like her daughter was.

Mal saw everything from Nizza's perspective as if he was her laying there in the stained wooden floor. The image of Aporia pulling her heart out, a bone from somewhere, a piece of her hair and more, but once he saw the knife getting closer to her eye he flinched and closed both of his knowing it wouldn't make a difference; he tried to pull himself away from the fire and found himself stuck, unable to do such a small thing and he cried some more.

The knife connected with her eye and did a watery vacuum seal sound that he was sure would hunt him forever, and then t he scenery changed after her eye was inside the box; everything was dark and quiet until the day the box was opened again and the eye found its place in a new socket. It felt cold and emotionless but it blinked a couple of times.

He still saw memories passing by; the eye's new owner getting married to a man she despised and having a boy who was emotionally drained by his parents until the day his destiny was fulfilled by him scaring them to death and once he did… the soul contained in the eye gained a new body.

He saw it happening at a high speed for centuries, passing the poor remains of the soul from generation to generation in a perpetual cycle of pain and every time it happened more power poured through them from the depths of hell.

It seemed that every time the cycle repeated itself the remains of the soul shattered and it lost a bit of itself into the darkness making it weaker and smaller with every new generation until the point where it was almost unperceivable.

The scenery changed again but to something more familiar; the person who held the remains on the soul was sitting before Natsu's mate, pushing her to the ground in anger. The pictures were constant and messy until he saw his pink hair friend clawing the man's chest to remove a dark mark.

It started to slow down and he was able to get a clear picture all the way until the men met his end in the shape of Natsu's face disappearing while the black steel box was shut, and Fukuro screamed for his life as if he was a child.

His sight became blurry from one moment to the next and before he knew it everything he saw seemed to come from behind a black flame veil and he knew he was now back in the underworld. Mal tried to adjust his eyes when he saw his face and he didn't need to have been in his presence many times to know exactly who was holding the fire. Pale skin, sharp chin, deep eyes and in the underworld… that could be no one but the God of the Dead.

"You're here… you're finally here" Chrysomallus was shocked to see the evident emotion in the elder God's face, his eyes were almost glistening with pain and relief "Soon you will regain your strength and you will tell me who kept you from me… I'll make them pay"

The fire released him at last but he found himself incapable of moving; he cried some more beneath the fire until there was nothing more to cry. "I'm… so sorry… I…" The fire seemed smaller now as if it had used too much energy, but it didn't matter now "Nizza… is he here too?" The fire weakly flickered but he didn't get an answer... he knew he couldn't leave yet.

"Forgive me father…"

Mal walked straight to the fire of the underworld in hopes he would find him and beg for forgiveness and if it was the last thing he did… he didn't care.


They knew the drill by heart now; the fairies returned to their places to power the Grid while Natsu sat on his chair with both grandmothers to his side.

"Are you alright dear? you look a bit… off" He could hear Aporia's condescending tone hidden under her fake concern and he chewed the inside of his cheek to avoid punching her face then and there "Fucking peachy…"

"Ria maybe he is just worried about his friend" Aporia clicked her tongue and didn't even try to glance at Ele who immediately frowned and sighed.

"Please like I need to worry about Erza… she even scares a couple of the Wizard Saints" Ria simply smirked "Well, I doubt the Wizard Saints have much of a killer instinct, they are saints after all"

"That only proves you know shit about them…" Natsu sat back and waited for the fight to begin; he didn't quite understand yet how the numbers, pairs, and fights were organized but was glad they had made it as complicated to last for so long because at least it meant he had a couple more days to live and figure out a way to save Lucy.

The first contestant to enter the grid was Ellis and as soon as she did the dark guilds erupted in cheers and screams for their champion; she didn't acknowledge them at all and simply stood in place with her head high and a menacing look.

The second contestant to enter was a woman named Mia; he didn't quite remember her fights nor did he care to remember. She looked more on the softer side; she wasn't as fit as Erza or Ellis and he wondered how she had gotten this far in the competition.

Her round face and blue eyes made her seem almost sweet if you skipped the fact she was part of a dark guild of assassins. Erza came in last, not caring about the hateful looks she was getting from the guilds; she turned to Natsu and smiled before nodding and moving forward and once they were all at the center of the grid the invisible walls flickered.

One of the guild Masters stepped forward and raised his hand to ask for silence before his deep voice broke through the crowd.

"We are reaching the end of the competitions! The fine women who appear before us are part of the last 2 groups to compete!"

The crowd roared before he raised his hands asking for silence once more "From the following two fights, we will choose 3 woman based on their strength and skill so even if they don't 'lose' this fight that doesn't mean they will move on to the last encounter that will take place tomorrow evening" He turned to face the women in the grid and nodded "Proceed"

It took no longer than a second for the fight to begin and as soon as it started Mia took a step back and disappeared leaving Natsu confused and blinking. Ellis dashed towards Erza and pushed her hand forward trying to cut her with her claw like onix rings but the redhead was faster and leaped back while reequipping into her heaven's wheel armor; as soon as she was about to land she noticed a purple flicker on the floor and pushed her sword to the ground to use it as leverage and change directions, landing on the opposite side.

Mia's head appeared from the small purple square, smiling "Dammit, that was close! You're good, girly" She barely had time to turn and use her sword to stop Ellis' claw from reaching her face "You didn't think we would make this easy… would you?"

Titania smirked which just proved to irritate Ellis "Now where would be the fun in that?" She pushed her opponent back and summoned two swords to continue the fight while still keeping an eye on her surroundings in case Mia made an appearance, which she did soon after that but this time from a window on the grid which Erza almost fell into while dodging Ellis.

"So the best you can do is throw me out?" she clicked her tongue "That's dishonorable"

Mia giggled while the window narrowed bit by bit "There's no dishonor in winning, girly!"

Erza noticed that even then she wasn't inside the cube there was no evidence of her being outside either "Spatial magic…" she grinned to herself; it was definitely not the same type she used as a requip mage as hers was isolated to spatial sub pockets but she knew the basic rules.

The fairy queen viewed hers as a closet with thousands of drawers and while it wasn't endless, hers was pretty big, but... still a closed space. It didn't take a genius to figure out Mia's space had to be limited too and that it possibly required a bit of extra effort to make sure she ended up only inside the cube; she had an idea… a risky one but she would trust her gut.

She knew their plan was either to kill her or push her out of the grid and Ellis was deadly enough that it required Erza's full attention; she knew she would have one shot and she was definitely going to take it.

The fight was about being the best by either beating your opponents quickly or showing adaptability and capability and she was going to do both with one single strike. She smiled slightly looking at Natsu with all the love and devotion in her heart while her body shimmered; her arms were extended to the sides and when the light disappeared she was wearing her Flame Empress armor.

She tightened her jaw and took a deep breath before switching her armor's customary weapon for her Karyū no Honō a special sword enchanted by Fire Dragon Slayer magic (Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest Manga: Chapter 44, Page 15). This was going to take a toll… but she was determined to do it.

Natsu watched in awe; Erza's magic had always been beautiful and terrifying and he had seen her requip and combine her armors and weapons plenty of times in the blink of an eye but this felt different somehow.

Once he stopped to think about it, the combination made sense but there was something off and as he inspected her look his heart stopped; his eyes landed on the slightly different black combs that now held her pigtails in place and h e remembered the day he wrote her goodbye letter; each of the letters he wrote had been personal and when writing Erza's he had barely made it through a couple lines when his tears threatened to betray him.

The Fire Dragon Slayer had told her what she meant to him... a light at the end of the tunnel, he had thanked her for making him who he was. Natsu had complained as much as it was humanly possible but he knew without her he wouldn't be able to read or write and knew without the shadow of a doubt his family wouldn't be what it had been without her presence and he let that feeling bleed into the paper with clumsy words and chickenscrath letters.

Erza smiled while brushing her finger through the red stones that decorated her combs remembering his words and sending a silent plea to the universe to be who he needed her to be, because in that letter he had called her his sister and she had promised to let him know she felt the same… she was sure her new attack would do that.

Ellis knew something was coming her way and wasted no time in cutting her bloodline tattoos to try to get to Titania first. She smirked and sent a venomous blood stream towards Erza but her smile faded quickly after that.

The redhead held her flamed sword before her, making the blood evaporate as soon as it made contact.

"That cheap trick is not going to save you, Fairy Queen!" She leaped closer while maintaining constant blood shots and as soon as she was close enough she saw the purple window appearing on the ceiling of the grid.

The blond curvy woman smiled to herself; it only took one of them to get close enough to take her out. Erza turned her face towards the new window and pointed her sword up leaving her front unprotected and Ellis saw her window of opportunity.

Blood strings spurred from her arms and wrapped themselves on Erza's throat before Ellis threw her to the ground and wrapped her poisonous hands on it. Mia's face popped out of the purple window and she pointed the palms of her hands towards her.

"Ellis! Move!"

"You're fucking dead, bitch!" Before she could break away Erza wrapped her arms and legs behind her and held the hilt of her sword tightly, locking her opponent.

"You will never understand…" Ellis tried to push as much venom as she could from her hands to break free but it also seemed to evaporate on Titania's skin which now looked a bit red.

"What the fuck are you doing?!"

Natsu stood up from his chair in panic, he could feel the atmosphere getting hotter and for once it was not his doing. The temperature Erza emanated wasn't normal and he was about ready to break the barrier to make sure she didn't burn herself to the bone but when her next words came out of her mouth he froze again.

"What we're willing to do for him" She smiled before softly whispering the one spell she hadn't practiced enough, the one she was still scared of using and knew would hurt like hell but the one she knew would reach him and give her the win "Karyū no Honō… Sister Lament"

The energy from her weapon flowed from the blade to the hilt and then toward her arm creating red shiny veins on it before the fire bursted from her body and sword like a tornado consuming everything around them and shooting a spike to the top and towards the purple window; it took only a second for it to expand and fill the cube entirely.

"ERZA!" As soon as Ele heard her grandson's panicked voice she knew he would run towards her; she wrapped her clouds around him to try to bind him to the throne like chair but it was no use; the adrenaline running through his body was enough to break away and as soon as he did, Natsu ran to the other side of the cube skidding and causing the loose soil under his feet to rise; he was trying to see inside the grid but it was no use.

The fairies were yelling her name too while brazing themselves trying to maintain the grid in place and he decided it was enough; he would break through and eat her flames to make sure she was ok because no mission was important enough for her to die, especially if it was for him.

He set his fist ablaze and was about to punch the invisible wall when a purple window appeared on the outer wall of the grid shooting Mia out in a puff of smoke and fire and soon after that the inferno inside the cube died down. Natsu's held a baffled expression while he observed the image before him; he was fisting so tight that his knuckles were paper white and his hands couldn't stop shaking.

"What the fuck did you do?..." Erza pushed Ellis off her, the woman was still awake but barely and she looked too pale. The redhead's skin looked drier, pink patches of burnt skin here and there but otherwise she looked ok and Natsu finally took a deep breath and thanked whatever part of his brain had thought about giving Erza those combs.

While the Flame empress armor lowered the destructive fire of flame attacks by 50% and helped her deal with the heath, the combs which were infused with his magic enhanced that by almost 30% more if used properly and gave her a higher control on fire but he had never thought she would use them like that or survive the amount of heath delivered in that one strike.

"Stand up…" Titania pointed her sword at her opponent defiantly "If you still can…" The blond woman stood on wobbly legs and tried to take a couple steps forward before falling on her face.

"We've seen enough!" The dark guild master announced and nodded to the Fairies to remove the grid.

Natsu was breathing rapidly, his eyes were fixated on Erza and he knew he had to walk away and keep the pretenses; he knew showing any type of favoritism or love could possibly damage all the work and sacrifice he had put into this mission and it was taking all his strength to do so.

He had heard her, every word she had said and every feeling she had put into her attack; even from the distance he could taste and smell the fire she had produced and it tasted like profound sadness… the scent of it still permeated the air and it hit something deep within because now he knew… That was a message for him that she would live and die with him and would stay at his side no matter what; the pinkette was painfully aware that this magic was new and dangerous and the blisters on his friend's skin proved it.

Her spell resonated in his ears 'Sister's lament'… and he knew she had poured every ounce of pain she felt for him in it.

Natsu couldn't help himself, he took a couple angry steps towards her, stopped and paced back then turned back towards her and snarled.

"Dammit… dammit! You!... STUPID… YOU!..." he stomped towards her and pulled her to his chest before wrapping his arms around her shoulders and she simply placed her hands behind his back while resting her face on his neck "Stupid… why would you do that" he whispered.

"Because you need to know how much you are loved… idiot…"

"Erza…"

She spoke so softly that if he didn't have great hearing he would have missed it "You are… very much and whatever plan you have will not take you away from us… I won't allow it"

The guilds remained quiet, feeling disgusted with the obvious display before them and a second later Natsu felt Gray's cold hand on his shoulder. When he turned around his friends were there with half smiles and determined looks and he felt both happy and desperate at the same time.

"You heard the lady…" He shook his head and gave Laxus a crooked smile "What the fuck am I going to do with you guys?"

"Meh… that's basically what we've wondered about you since you joined the guild… so consider it payback"

They stayed silent; too entranced in the moment but even if they had paid attention they wouldn't have seen Galea holding Nadia's hand to cover her with her magic. They couldn't have known that the girl who they thought nothing of, who had no smell, no presence and no sound around her could use her magic to shield someone else.

Nadia walked closer and placed her finger on Erza's neck before whispering "You're too tired… sleep" and in a second the redhead collapsed on the ground causing her friends to yell in panic.

"WENDY! ERZA NEEDS YOU!"

"I'm on it" Nadia stumbled trying to get out of the way to remain undetected but brushed the Sky Maiden's arm slightly causing her to turn quickly and blink in confusion. She didn't have time to think so she just laid her hands on Erza and got to work.

"Why is she not waking up?" Jellal's regularly stoic face was filled with fear, he couldn't help it. He loved her so much that it hurt and seeing her like that was too hard for him.

"I'm sorry, I think we used too much magic… maybe I'm not helping enough but she seems to be ok, she's just resting" he took a deep breath and nodded "Maybe we should take her inside?"

Natsu looked around and saw the small smile on the dark guilds leaders and then his eyes landed on Nadia. He didn't remember her there before and he knew she had been at the other end of the field a couple minutes before.

"I agree… let's get her inside, this fuckers look way too happy about her condition"

Jellal carried her princess style and blushed when her mouth landed on the crook of his neck causing Gray to snicker but before he could comment Happy landed on Natsu's head "Hey Natsu! They liiiike each other!"

Natsu smiled, and suddenly burst in laughter causing every spectator to turn their heads towards him. The dark guilds had never heard him laugh like that and their friends had missed the sounds too much which caused them to immediately follow him in a fit of laughter.

"Ya know what buddy? I don't agree" Happy crossed his paws above his chest "I think you're blind"

"No, no I think they loooove each other" That only made Jellal turn as red as Erza's hair and made everyone laugh harder.

"Hey Happy?..." He chewed the inside of his cheek "You're not mad at me anymore?"

"No, I know it wasn't your fault" Natsu sighed "I mean it kinda was, I just don't remember it"

"Well Lily said…" the black cat cleared his throat "Happy… not now" The blue feline sighed and nodded "It really wasn't your fault" Natsu's curiosity sparked but he knew better than to ask at that moment so he simply followed his friends until they got to the door that had been calling for him every day since her arrival.

Levy opened the door and walked in with a smile "Hi Lu-Chan! we are back!" Natsu stood aside so everyone could get in and was about to turn on his heel and leave when he was unceremoniously shoved inside the room.

"Well go on now we don't have all day, runt!" Could he have avoided being pushed? Yes, his senses allowed it, but for some reason anything related to Lucy reduced him to a jumbling nervous wreck, so instead he awkwardly stood inside the room next to the door and looked at the floor.

"Natsu?" He didn't look up, he didn't need to "Hey Loke…"

"Well it was about damn time you showed up…" Levy smacked him on the back of the head making him wince "I mean… nice to see you?" He turned to the bluenette who smiled at him and nodded "Much better"

The pinkette was trying to hold his breath, this had been the closest he had been to Lucy in sometime if you didn't count lying unconscious next to her and he was afraid of losing his determination if he breathed in her scent, but of course eventually he had to breath and all his senses went numb as soon as her sweet natural scent hit his nose.

There was friendly banter and chatting in the background but he couldn't hear it anymore; everything in him told him to run towards her and hold her against his chest "Shit…" he covered his face with both hands and slid down the wall groaning.

"Shit… shit… shit"

A hand on his shoulder startled him "Are you ok?" he looked at Juvia, determined to nod but his mouth betrayed him "No..." he widened his eyes and cursed himself "Yes… No… I…"

Juvia smiled at him and nodded before sitting next to him on the floor "Juvia understands; too much too soon?" he nodded "She's… right there… and I can't…"

"Juvia thinks you can" he arched his eyebrow at her "Juvia thinks you should go sit with Lucy for a bit" he involuntarily emitted a weird sound that came out as a whine making Juvia giggle.

"That's a very bad idea…"

Gray got closer and kicked his leg "Why?" He felt the need to punch his friend on the face but instead he simply raised his hands in frustration "Because!"

"That's not an answer"

"Because I need to leave her alone, I need to stay away from her… she deserves a chance to be happy and I ain't it"

"Well you should have thought about it before getting her in this situation" Natsu couldn't blame Loke for that answer; he felt hurt by it but in the end he knew he was right "Believe me, I know…"

The leader of the zodiac huffed and rolled his eyes; no, Natsu didn't know half of it but he was in no position to talk at this point.

"Well I think Loke is being a dick" Gajeel laughed at the crudeness of his wife's words "I think Lu-chan would like for you to come and sit with her, and maybe talk to her a bit… you know about how things are going"

He didn't respond so she kept going "What if she needs you to wake up? Don't you want her to?" he gave her an offended look "Of course I do! Just… " he knew they were staring at him "Not…"

"Not while you are alive?" He turned to Laxus with a pleading look silently asking him to shut it down but the man smiled at him "If you think I'm just going to start doing what you want, you really are going to need to try a bit harder Natsu…"

The door suddenly slammed open in between giggles as the kids ran inside; Neri and Adi immediately jumped in the bed to lay next to Lucy "Lucy! we saw some butterflies! They were in the garden and they were orange and black!

"They were so pretty! There's also a tiny nest in one of the trees, when you wake up I will show you!" Juvia got closer to Natsu and whispered "They said they wanted to talk to her in case she could hear them, that way she won't forget their voices" He felt his heart clench and his eyes fill with moisture and he bit down hard to try to stop it before Juvia grabbed his arm and squeezed it "You know she probably can't hear them, but it makes them happy..."

"Yeah… I can imagine"

"I know we're all supposed to pretend that you don't love her if she wakes up… but you could take advantage to talk to her… you know since she can't hear you" She didn't believe a word she said, in all honestly they were the ones who had encouraged the kids to talk to Lucy but she thought it was a good opportunity for Natsu to wake up from whatever nightmare he had created for himself and she was not above lying to make that happen.

"I don't think I can…"

"Don't you have things you want to say to her?" He sighed and rested his head on the wall "All are things I lost the right to say…"

"Well… but since Lucy can't hear you it doesn't matter right?" The pinkette took a deep breath and stood up before slowly walking closer to the bed and everyone froze. They felt as if they were staring at a wild animal thinking any sudden moves would scare him away.

'She can't hear me… she can't… this is ok… ' Cai grabbed his hand and smiled before pulling him closer and raising his arms to ask him to pull him up and the Dragon Slayer couldn't help his lips from curling up a bit. He sat down at the foot of the bed and pulled the small child with him "You really like her, uhm?" Cai nodded "She's the best!" The child crawled away from his lap and to the other side and rested his head on Lucy's stomach "She tells the best stories"

"She does…" He sighed for the thousand time "Guys… c-can I have a moment?" Everyone nodded except for Loke who crossed his arms and laid his back on the small individual couch that had become his post "I'm not going anywhere…"

"Aw come on…" Levy was about to pull him up when Natsu shook his head "He can stay… I don't mind" they were confused by his reaction but nodded. The kids kissed Lucy goodbye and left with the rest.

Natsu looked back to see Erza sleeping in the other bed and then at the celestial spirit "I'm sorry man…"

"Why are you apologizing to me?"

"I don't know… I... think you and I always had this unspoken promise to protect her… and I didn't" Loke's shoulders relaxed and his expression changed from anger to disappointment "I didn't either…"

"It wasn't your job"

"It was… I…" he rubbed his face with both hands and leaned resting his elbows on his knees "I tried to push my gate to open the day she...you know… but I couldn't none of us could and she was mad at me and I've been mad at you but I know it's not fair either… you... loved each other and did what you could to stay together"

"Can you keep her safe for me?" Loke nodded "You don't have to ask"

"Do you think she would be safe up there with you guys? I mean… when shit hits the fan here?"

"I don't think it works like that; the bond…"

"I know… but I had to ask" Natsu turned his face to Lucy and his lip curled up a little "You're gonna be so mad at me…" he got a bit closer, still not enough to touch her but to absorb the heath that emanated from her skin.

"I can almost see you scrunching your nose and rolling your eyes throwing in my face all the stupid things I've put you through in the last few months" he allowed for a hollow laugh to come up "Telling me all the ways I could have made this better and how you definitely would have if you were me"

His lip curled up a bit; Loke could see his eyes starting to water and he sighed knowing that he was broken even when he didn't know some of the most devastating aspects about their situation "I love you so much that it hurts Luce… I just wanted to make things right and now I can't even…"

The pinkette cleaned his tears with the back of his hand "I wanted to give you everything and then some… but I want you to be happy and I'm sure as hell can't give you that anymore. I don't want you to spend your life alone, ok?". He turned to Loke with a serious expression "Don't let her surrender, you hear? She can't stay alone forever"

"Natsu I need to tell you something…" The pinkette shook his head "Just promise me" He sighed "I promise she won't stay alone forever"

"I still need to tell you something important" The zodiac leader stood up and knelt in front of Natsu but he wouldn't meet his eyes "Is it going to make it harder for me to do what I have to do?" He was met by silence. The Dragon Slayer took a deep breath, grabbed Lucy's hand and kissed it "Goodbye Luce…". He stood up and walked towards the door.

"Natsu, don't be an idiot… listen"

"No, you listen… I know what I have to do and I can't let anything stop me, so unless you have some… I dunno magic artifact that turns back time and allows me to go back and undo all of this shit then don't interfere… you have one job and that is to keep her safe"


The afternoon fights came up with an unsurprising result; Tais and Galea had not been a challenge to Nadia's cunning ways and had eventually surrendered to her will in an attempt to save their own lives.

Natsu hadn't even paid attention this time, too lost in his thoughts about Lucy and wondering what the end of the road would be like.

Both women had tried to subdue the ashy blond and for a moment there it had seemed as they had, but they had forgotten one simple and very important fact… because of their type of magic, in order to take Nadia out they would have to touch her.

As soon as the fight had started, Galea had camouflage with her surroundings and Tais had leaped and attempted to grab Nadia, ending in both women grabbing each other's wrists. Nadia had been immobilized with a smirk that went unnoticed by most.

The crowd had roared in excitement until they saw Tais bleeding from her side and then turning to attack Galea without much luck and for a second they missed the fact that Nadia had started moving again. As soon as Tais was able to grab Galea and immobilize her; the blond woman laughed and yelled "Freeze!" she stepped up and kissed both women on their foreheads "I'm not even here… kill each other"

That was it; both women were severely wounded and bleeding too much by the time they pleaded for her to stop her attack, embarrassing themselves in front of the guilds and with that she knew exactly who would be in the final fight the next day.

She had taken Titania out without anyone's knowledge and was not planning on waking her up; for her the redhead was a menace even if she was not competing for the throne and she was planning to let her grow old and die without ever seeing her loved ones again.

Nadia had thought this was a good way to send her off as she considered it a dishonorable way to die for a warrior as strong as Erza Scarlet. It was no surprise when later that night, the dark guilds announced the final battle would be between her, Ellis, and Erza but she knew only two of them would be able to stand inside the grid the next day.


Lucy was tired; her breaths were coming short and she was sweating heavily while the three eager men stared at her.

"You're doing a great job… just keep going" She huffed and rolled her eyes "For… how… long?" the men flinched.

"Lucy we don't really know… you need to find a way to wake up" She looked at Zeref like he had grown another head "No shit… you think?"

Phrixus laughed and knelt next to her, pressing his hand on her back "I like her, Z! No wonder why your brother chose her" He took a deep breath and started pushing his energy towards the ground too "Not sure it will help much… but it's something, right?"

She smiled at him and nodded before she felt Igneel shuffling to her other side, trying to push more energy into the ground and when she looked at his face she found the mountain of a man grinning at her "She's got spunk"

Lucy felt the pull on her magic receding to a more manageable pace and was finally able to take a deep breath "Ok… that's kind of better" she straightened up a bit "Now can someone explain what the hell is going on in here?"

Zeref sat across from her and held her hand "I need you to be very calm… It's not going to be easy but you need to if you want to keep Natsu alive, do you understand?" He waited for her to nod and took a deep breath.

"Natsu is going to do something really stupid" she snorted and rolled her eyes "Am I supposed to be surprised?"

"He's going to die if we don't stop him Lucy" the land trembled a bit and the sky turned grayer than before. The black wizard held her hand tighter "Focus…"

She bit her lip and closed her eyes; it took a couple of seconds but the land seem to steady itself again "Good… Look there is a lot going on out there"

"What happened to me?" Phrixus spoke from her left "You were taken and were close to dying from lack of magic and energy and then you pulled from his magic and everything kind of… I would say caught on fire but that's not exactly what happened"

"How did I get out?"

"Natsu found you… he thought you were dead and he kinda… gave up and tried to make his fire burn everything including you two"

"How am I alive then?"

Igneel spoke from her right "Father got to you and took you out; your head was too injured but he managed to heal most of the troublesome stuff…" she could tell he was hesitant about the next part "Why am I not awake then?"

Zeref let go of her hand and stood up, turning his back on her "You need to understand he doesn't know that he is doing this…"

"What are you… Zeref, look at me" He turned and flinched; she was giving her that look… the same Mavis used to give him when she was growing tired of him being cryptic "You and Natsu's magic together is something that has been feared for centuries… There's something about you two that causes magic to… stop its natural flow"

"Ok… what does that have to do with me being here?"

Ingeel sighed and bit the inside of his cheek "Just like when you pulled energy from him from afar and defeated that awful man without knowing, everything your magic touched was left without magic, you interrupted his energy flow. Now that you are close to Natsu, you are feeding from his energy but he is doing the same thing… and in your condition you would need twice as much energy… even then you would probably be able to wake up… but"

"He is keeping you here without knowing Lucy" She looked at Zeref with a baffled look "He wants you to stay asleep… until he is gone"

"WHAT?!" He nodded "Again… he doesn't know he is doing it; he feeds from your energy too and what he feeds you back is a combination from both your powers… which is also interrupting the natural flow of your energy… his fear is causing you to stay here"

Her eyes started moving from one side to the other, just thinking about what her options were. Natsu was a force to be reckoned with, he was determined and strong and she had no idea of what she could do to overpower his desire for her to stay asleep… and then she heard him on the back of her head.

"I love you so much that it hurts Luce"

She took a deep breath and did her best to calm her brain; she could do this, she had to do this if she wanted to get to him.

"Ok… so he is taking energy… energy that I need to push through so I just need more of it, right?"

Zeref scoffed and rolled his eyes "Sure! Let's just give you our energy which is not even compatible with yours… that will fix it"

"Excuse me, Mr. Smartass, why wouldn't it be compatible with mine?" He raised his hands as if it was obvious but before he could talk she raised her finger.

"I am his mate which means I already have been infused with his magic, you are his brother by blood which means that even if it's just a bit… your magic is kind of in tune with his! This is your father for Pete's sake! and this… well this is Igneel! He friggin lived inside your brother for years! Are you telling me that there is no way this would work!?"

He frowned and gave her the stink eye before raising his finger as he prepared to retort only to realize he had no logical way to prove her wrong "I… that's…" she smiled and arched her eyebrow "I am waiting, OH all knowing black wizard…"

He cleared his throat "She… may have a point there"

"I mean… we could try" Phrixus rubbed his chin "We don't have that much energy anymore if I'm being totally honest"

"Oh Please…" She pointed at each of them "Black Wizard, Dragon king, and… I don't know son of a deity of some sort"

"Uhm… yeah" Phrixus pointed at both men and then at himself "Dead for years, dead for years… dead for centuries, what were you expecting?"

Lucy huffed and pulled her hair "We HAVE to try? right?!"

"Little one you are barely keeping this place from collapsing… if you stop then we will have to start all over again and I'm not sure how many times we will be able to come back"

"As many as needed" She gave them a determined look and they knew she was not ready to surrender. It gave them hope to think maybe, just maybe she was as determined to save Natsu as he was to save her, and hoping that would be enough.

The three men sat down and placed their hands on her, trying to push as much energy as they could muster and making her glow.